*Your Actual Life May Vary

Patty Grant, a faltering grad student in San Diego, learns that she needs to move out of her beloved rental with almost no notice. But she wonders: What should she do about the young child tied to a doghouse in a backyard down the street? After all, her calls to child services just go unanswered and none of the neighbors seems to have noticed... . One spur-of-the-moment decision changes Patty's life-- but she couldn't just leave that stray child behind, could she? And does having a child strapped haphazardly to the passenger seat make you some kind of parent? Or... something else? With her silent, mysterious passenger, Patty follows the California dream, searching for a place that's perfect and brand new, yet somehow comforting and familial. Can she escape her past and make amends for her rash decision? Once she gets to know her new community, Patty discovers that nearly everyone has something to hide. She might just fit right in... . In this darkly comic novel, Linda Lenhoff gives us a parable of the modern community and examines what it really means to be a family through a uniquely twisted, humorous lens.